Some More Reading Material

I have sat down numerous times this week to share the things that have been going on, but when I start to type, the words just seem to end. Still nothing really exciting has happened with me, I seem to be more tired this week, maybe because my prednisone was upped and my cyclosporine was decreased, I don't know. Maybe it's just a change in my body. It's really hard to say at this point, nothing really feels the same day to day. My feet feel "dead" at times, the nerves I am sure were damaged from the last round of chemo, and they just don't feel right, and that goes along with my legs, my muscles have taken a hit. Walking up the stairs just isn't the same, but that is a side effect of prednisone.... Weakness, just something you have to deal with day to day, if you are tired you rest, no sense in wearing yourself out so you feel worse the next day. Too bad the sun gets up at 5:30-6:00 now, cause I seem to be awake when it's light outside, but I do usually manage to get back to sleep. My shoulders have been sore, I haven't really been doing much to make my muscles sore, but another drug side effect is most likely.

I made bread, muffins and brownies the other day, I almost killed myself trying to get it all done. The oven warmed up the house, I was wearing a sweat shirt, kind of forgot to drink or eat anything, and I was kneading dough. I had a nap afterward, but was tuckered out. Later all of my hard work went to feeding a large crew of family members who showed up. The bread was a hit anyways. The brownies, and muffins were practically polished off by the next day too. That's the shame in baking, it never lasts to long, unless it is really bad. I guess I have some skills, and something I can do when I am bored, except people around might start getting fat.

Today I was at the hospital, a standard check up, had 120 mL of blood drained from my body. It was the day to draw blood for this allergy study I am involved with, to see if allergies are transferred form the donor to recipient after transplant. So far I don't know if my donor had any allergies so I asked the nurse to maybe check into it for me, that way maybe I could know if any new allergies start happening with me. I could run my own personal study. Hopefully I don't get a peanut allergy, cause I don't think I could live with out peanut butter. Along with the allergy blood, all the standard other tests: chemistry, cyclo levels, blood levels, and the numerous other ones they check for. My platelets slipped down a little from last Wednesday(90-71), so I will be back on Friday to check that one again. But my hemoglobin was at a stable 137, and my white blood cells are at 8.9, 7.2 for my neutrophils. Liver function was stable, so nothing seems to be happening there. The platelets dropping is a little bit of a concern, but is likely just a little dip as the new bone marrow continues to take over. I am becoming maybe a little bit of a hypocondriac, but I make sure my doctor checks any little thing that I notice. I have been having a bit of tenderness in my breast area, am I growing boobs, I don't know, but whenever you have tenderness you sometimes wonder. I know during puberty I had swollen breasts, and they were sensitive and hurt. Damn hormones messing with a boys brain. Anyway the ultra sound and chest X-ray from last week didn't show any abnormalities, so I guess I will just relax about it.

Playing guitar has been good, I think my chords might be getting a little faster, and I am getting them in my mind, as I learn more. My fingers are a little shaky still, so at times its a little difficult to get them on the right string, but the majority of the time I am smooth. Still I don't really know whole song but hopefully soon that will change. I think I just need a more of a mentor, my lesson is only a half an hour and it isn't much time to just mess around. It gets a little frustrating when you just want to pick up the guitar and play like a pro, but I guess that's not how it goes. If only it were that easy.

Well a week has gone by, 54 days since transplant, time goes by no matter what, sometimes slower than you want it to. Maybe sometimes faster, depending on your mood, what you are doing, or what you are feeling. I think that when you sleep time should speed, the nice days should last longer, but no matter what you should enjoy all the time you got, no matter how fast or slow it's going.
Justin:)